What happened in Monas on June 1 yesterday was catastrophic and disgusting. Some "Islamic" groups, or Islam-hijackers to be more exact, attacked a peaceful rally by Aliansi Kebangsaan untuk Kebebasan Beragama dan Berkeyakinan (AKKBB) commemorating the birth of Pancasila and campaigning for religious freedom in the country. The unarmed AKKBB crowd, many of them women and children, was confronted by terrorists claiming to be muslims, who beat them up with bamboo sticks. Due to the severeness of the attack, many AKKBB activists were injured and had to be admitted to the hospital.
On the other hand, leaders of the hard-line groups seem to be playing dumb and annoyingly innocent. Their speeches imply that they have the right to commit such violence in the name of "religion", especially unto others that don't have the same (violent) mind. One of them even had the effrontery to say that in the event of arrest, his group will strongly resist -which we know will be almost certainly by violence. This is an insult to the whole country because in the past, these groups have campaigned against our very own Pancasila and now, they are attacking the people who supports it. One AKKBB activist said that this is the first time that someone gets beaten for supporting Pancasila.
These people have really really crossed the line, a line that was clearly drawn by both Pancasila and Islam.
The authorities have to stand up against this kind of thugs, who spread chaos and terror in the name of religion, in this case Islam. They have blatantly broken the law; therefore, the police must not hesitate to take actions, punish those perpetrators, and prevent this violence from ever happening again. In previous violence cases by the same groups, the police force seemed to be very slow to respond. In addition, the real Islamic organizations, such as NU and Muhammadiyah which I respect very much, must also make their core stances heard: Islam never approves violence and Pancasila as the state ideology is final.
However, it will ultimately come down to us: the silent, peaceful majority. We must make our stand and prevent these religion-hijackers from ever taking root in the society. People power is never to be ignored. Regardless of one's point of view on Ahmadiyah -one of the battlefront between activists and those thugs-, it is clear that what the Laskar did was simply unjustifiable. Puh-leeze, what kind of Islam promotes chaos over harmony and violence over peace? Obviously not our Islam.
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